Southern played possum for much of last season, quietly sneaking into the Dunedin premier club playoffs before shocking unbeaten Taieri in the final, but there will be no hiding in the shadows this year.
Any defending champion puts other teams on high alert, and the Magpies will be watched closely week to week.
Coach John Leslie acknowledged the presence of the championship banner at Bathgate Park had added some spice to the season.
"I guess it’s a good motivator for opposition teams coming up against us, and I think most teams won’t go into a game underestimating us just because we were the champions in 2022," he said.
"But our team has changed a bit. We’ve got some new faces.
"So it’s relevant, but it’s also history now."
Southern opened with a 19-14 loss to Dunedin before bouncing back with a 25-8 win over Green Island.
"Our goal for the season is to qualify for the playoffs and to build our game so we’re in a strong position by then.
"We would like to be two from two. That isn’t the case, but our team is building, and it’s a bit hard to make a full judgement on our early performance at this stage."
The Magpies host the Bookworms at Bathgate Park tomorrow.
Leslie expects University, much like the other teams in the competition, to be focusing on getting better each week.
"They’ve got some good players, and they’re well coached, so we’re certainly not going to underestimate them.
"They’ll be a good match for us and they’ll be contenders for the playoffs, I’m sure."
Leslie is not a massive fan of the format of Dunedin premier rugby this year. There is a round and a-half of competitive action, meaning teams do not play the same number of games.
He thought last season — Covid had forced a delayed start — worked well with just one full round of games that counted for the playoffs.
"I think that was long enough for a club season, long enough to keep the guys interested and keen, and it really made for a good, intense competition."
He took no pleasure in hearing the 99-0 scoreline between Dunedin and battling AU last weekend.
Any competitive imbalance in the top grade needed to be addressed further down, he said, as some clubs were struggling to field one colts team while others appeared to be loaded.
■Saturday marked the third time a Dunedin premier team scored exactly 99 points since the Otago Daily Times began keeping detailed records in 1976.
University A beat University B 99-3 in 2008, and Harbour beat Green Island 99-7 in 2015.
The record is University’s 137-0 win over Zingari-Richmond in 2016 — Fletcher Smith bagged 52 points — followed by Taieri’s 127-12 win over Green Island in 2014.
